Most current 802.11 network-level authentication protocols require a substantial amount of time to re-establish a wireless station's connectivity to the network after that station roams from one access point (AP) to another access point. Typically, when a station associates with a first access point, it has to be authenticated through a central authentication server. When the station roams to a new access point, the station loses the session to the network and again authenticates itself with the authentication server which typically involves a full challenge request and response. A new accounting session is then established. This delay in re-establishing connectivity greatly impacts 802.11 services to the point that some upper-level protocols, such as Voice-over-IP (VoIP), actually fail. Furthermore, each roam commonly necessitates interaction with a site's Authentication, Accounting, and Authorization (AAA) servers, resulting in a significant increase in server load, to the point at which some servers fail to provide the necessary rate of authentications requests for the 802.11 stations. More importantly, after the authentication has succeeded, the 802.11 station then uses the key provisioned at authentication to establish a fresh key used to secure the 802.11 link with the access point.